Tony Romo broke up with Jessica Simpson on Thursday, the night before her 29th birthday, a source close to the pop star tells PEOPLE.

"She is heartbroken," says the source. "She loves Tony. But it's been difficult lately. He's busy with his career and she's getting ready to shoot her show (The Price of Beauty). They decided to part ways."

The Dallas Cowboys quarterback fueled breakup rumors when he showed up with about 14 friends at the Hollywood hotspot MyHouse on Friday night without the birthday girl, a source tells PEOPLE.

"He had quite a few girls stop by his dance floor table," says an onlooker. "Romo was sipping Grey Goose and having a fun time with the boys."

Simpson’s rep had no comment. Romo's rep could not be reached for comment.

Simpson had planned to throw a Barbie and Ken-themed party for her birthday, but it fell through, according to a message she wrote on her Twitter page Saturday. "Barbie party didn't happen, but I turned 29 and feel like I am on top of the world yelling I LOVE GETTING OLDER!" she wrote.

On Saturday night, Romo spoke to a group of well-heeled sports memorabilia collectors at the Los Angeles Sports Museum of Los Angeles. He "blushed" when a woman asked about his relationship with Jessica Simpson, according to the L.A. Daily News.

The source close to Simpson is sad that the longtime couple broke up. "They were good together for along time," says the source. "But I guess it wasn't meant to be."

Although Simpson's heart might be broken, she seems to remain hopeful about love. On Sunday, she Tweeted, "Everyone needs to know that hope floats ... grab the strings and pull it back to you." Three hours later, she wrote, "Falling asleep with my mom and the dogs. Please lord give all of my beautiful fans, friends, enemies, and family rest. Bring all of us peace."

Why is everyone so in the tank for this bitchhole organization? They got lucky and barely beat the crappy Cardinals and suddenly they're the team of the decade. Their owner, this sleazebag Rooney who take credit for instituting the Rooney rule and touts himself as a moral superior but then isn't even consistent enough to kick players of the team when they commit the same offenses. Now news sources won't even report on this thing with Roethlisberger;

ESPN non-report of Roethlisberger story "embarrassing"Posted by Mike Florio on July 22, 2009 12:10 PM ET

Though we've supposedly provided our final word regarding ESPN's policy regarding the reporting of civil lawsuits not accompanied by criminal charges, we're still monitoring the reaction to the situation.

John Gonzalez of the Philadelphia Inquirer takes a great look at the situation, including a quote from ESPN vice president and director of news Vince Doria, who confirms that there is no black-and-white rule in these matters, despite an initial (and horribly inept) effort by ESPN to sell the notion that the network was merely adhering to a clear, non-discretionary internal policy.

Doria also told the Wall Street Journal that, in the end, he made the decision to duck the story.

"Those are the things that I think are damaging to reputations, and I think you need to know more about them before you report them," Doria said. "As it stands right now, today, we don't think it meets our standard of reporting."

But did ESPN feel the same way when Mike Fish recently reported the dismissal of a civil lawsuit alleging that Roberto Alomar gave his girlfriend AIDS? Speaking of Fish, did ESPN consider whether it was "damaging . . . reputations" when Bristol went bonkos for the unsubstantiated (and ultimately retracted) allegation that the Patriots had cheated the Rams out of a Super Bowl win?

Here's the reality. Though his motivations are subject to debate and likely will never be known, Doria got it wrong this time.

And plenty of ESPN employees know it.

"People were going insane," an ESPN source told Gonzalez. "FOX News was doing the story. The AP had it. And they wouldn't even let us mention it. You can't ignore the story. It needs to be on SportsCenter. It makes us look bad. It's not a topic for discussion, but you have to acknowledge that it's being reported, that the story exists."

An ESPN source summed it up more succinctly for us: "This is embarrassing."

As another person with connections to Bristol explained it, once Commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged that the league "will look into" the allegations, it became a story that ESPN had no choice to acknowledge.

But they didn't, and to our knowledge they still haven't.

Regardless of whether they ever do, has it ever been any more clear that we need a viable, national competitor for the self-described "Worldwide Leader"?

I'm not surprised though, when Jim Johnson died the other day I couldn't even find the story on ESPN, or even the report about Favre's decision, it was buried under all the Michael Vick junk and their own self promoting Scouts Inc crap.

What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons. You're born alone and you die alone and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts. But I never forget. I'm living like there's no tomorrow, because there isn't one.

What do you expect,Disney owns ESPN.Rooney is the cliche Beverly Hills Cop villian,he is some highly respected guy who everyone loves but gets away with everything and protects his team since he has under the table hush hush deals.

Bob Craft is similar IMO ....Pats are cheaters and have a huge * next to their so called success.Pats are as genuine as Sosa and McGuire 1998 home run thing.

w00t! Favre is back! Just When he thought he was out... they pulled him back in!

What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons. You're born alone and you die alone and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts. But I never forget. I'm living like there's no tomorrow, because there isn't one.

Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher's decision to don an Indianapolis Colts Peyton Manning jersey at a charity function has some Titans fans up in arms.

Fisher wore the jersey Tuesday while appearing at a charity event for Rocketown at Lipscomb University in Nashville with former Colts coach Tony Dungy, among others.

When he introduced Dungy, Fisher took off his jacket and shirt, revealing a Manning Colts jersey underneath, saying, "I just wanted to feel like a winner."

Rocketown is a 40,000-square-foot entertainment complex in Nashville created for teens to gather in a drug- and alcohol-free environment.

The Titans, who were expected to be an AFC playoff contender this season, are a disappointing 0-6. The Colts are 5-0.

The Titans' latest defeat was a 59-0 shellacking at the hands of the New England Patriots.

During his weekly radio show on 103.3-FM in Nashville, Fisher apologized, but made it clear he didn't believe he did anything wrong.

"It was for a very, very worthwhile cause, charity," Fisher said on his show, according to The Tennessean. "I was introducing Tony, just having fun with it and I really apologize if I offended anybody, but if you're offended over the nature of that type of thing, then I think you need to rethink things.

"This is a very worthwhile and needy benefit and I was honored to be there. … I'm sorry if I offended anybody but if I had to do it again, I would do it again."

What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons. You're born alone and you die alone and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts. But I never forget. I'm living like there's no tomorrow, because there isn't one.

Speaking of that, Orrin Hatch is STILL whining. He's trying to force Obama to bust the BCS or something. Call me crazy, I think that guy has better things to do. Or maybe not, perhaps designing a cumbersome playoff system that will inevitably have as much if not more controversy than the bowl system could be his one accomplishment before he gets impeached or at least slapped about the face with a wet trout for flooding the White House with communists.

What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons. You're born alone and you die alone and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts. But I never forget. I'm living like there's no tomorrow, because there isn't one.